Sri Narada has gone to
Sankara, Lord Siva, and is glorifying him; You are very near and
dear to Lord Krsna. Not only that, you are Krsnas manifestation; you
are non-different from Him. You can give moksa, liberation, and also
krsna-prema. Hearing Narada glorify him in numerous ways, Sankara
became somewhat angry and said, Your glorification of me is all
false. I am not very dear to Krsna  not at all  but I want to be. I
want to be Krsnas beloved, but actually I am not. Ive done so many
things against Him.

Sankara had performed a number of
activities that were apparently opposed to Krsna, such as giving a
benediction to Ravana, as well as other activities opposed to
krsna-bhakti. He told Narada, You know, my boy, what no one in this
world can do, Krsna tells me to do. When the demigods were churning
the ocean, first came poison  maha-poison. It was very dangerous and
the entire world was burning by it." The demigods had approached
Krsna, who told them to worship Sankara and request him to swallow
that poison. So they worshipped Sankara and told him, O Sankara,
save us! No one else can save us. Sankara at once took that poison
and drank it. He took it in his mouth, but he didnt want to take it
in his stomach. This was because he considered, Oh, Krsna is in my
heart, and the poison will affect Him. He therefore took it only in
his throat. His throat was burned and it thus turned blue.

In kali-yuga many persons wanted to worship Krsna, God,
thinking, He should fulfill all our desires. Simply by worshipping
Krsna or His incarnations, He will be pleased and satisfy our
worldly, material desires. In this way they began to worship  not
to please Krsna, but only because they wished that He would very
easily arrange all of their needs. Sri Krsna thought, This is very
dangerous. He called Sankara and told him, Tell all the false
devotees that, You yourself are Brahma. Brahma satyam jaganmitya
jiva brahma evanapara. This world is false. Jiva is Siva, jiva is
Brahma, all these souls are Brahma. There is no need to worship any
other God. You are God Himself. You are Paramabrahma.

Sankara told Krsna, Can you please tell someone else to do this? I
am not qualified to do this service.

Krsna replied,
No, you will have to do it. In the entire world I see no one else
qualified to do this.

Now Sankara told Narada, At
last, I had to agree with this, and I preached everywhere, You are
Brahma, you are Brahma, you are Brahma. The whole world is false.
Now, I am so much regretting this. Why am I making all these jivas so
offensive? It is an offense, I know. But yet, to carry out the orders
of Lord Krsna, I am doing this. Because He sometimes orders me in
this way, I am not His dear one.

"Also, you know that
I always wear ashes from the burial grounds, and I always wear
skulls. I have trigunas, three qualities: satya, rajas, and tamas
(material goodness, passion and ignorance). All my associates are
like bhutas (ghosts) and pisachis (witches). So actually I am not
qualified to be Krsna's dear one.

Narada then said,
Prabhu, dont cheat me. I know something. I have heard that the
enemies of Krsna and the Pandavas, or the enemies of any bhaktas,
worship you, and you give them some benediction. But that benediction
is not totally foolproof. There is always some loophole there.
Actually you cheat them to please your Lord Sri Krsna. I know that
whatever you do, you do to please Krsna. You are His dearest
friend.

In Mahabharata there was a king named
Jayadratha who was the brother-in-law of Duryodhana. Duryodhana had
given his sister, Dushala, to Jayadratha, and so he was also like the
brother-in-law of the Pandavas. Once Jayadratha tried to take
Draupadi as his wife, and he put her on his chariot by force.
Weeping, she told him, I am the wife of the Pandavas. If they come,
they will punish and kill you. Jayadratha was so arrogant, however,
that he did not hear what she said. In the meantime, Rsi Narada came
to the Pandavas and told them, Oh, I saw Jayadratha take away
Draupadi, and she is weeping! At once Bhima and Arjuna ran after
him, and Jayadratha saw that they were coming very quickly. Bhima
left his chariot and began to run faster than Jayadrathas horses.
Arjuna told Bhima, I am going to arrest and kill Jayadratha. You
should take care of the rest of the Pandavas. He thus took his bow
and arrows, and by those arrows he created a fire that surrounded the
chariot of Jayadratha. Jayadratha was captured in that fire and could
not move. At once Arjuna and Bhima arrested him, bound him to the
chariot, and took him to the place where Yudhisthira was staying with
Draupadi and the others.

Bhima told Yudhisthira I want
to kill him. Please order me to kill him. Arjuna also said,
Jayadratha has performed a heinous act; he should be killed.
Yudhisthira said, We should take the case to Draupadi, and whatever
she orders we will do. This was because it was Draupadi whom
Jayadratha had taken. They went to Draupadi and kept Jayadratha at
her feet. Draupadi was now very merciful. Although Bhima repeatedly
said, I want to kill him at once, Draupadi told them, Dont kill
him. Forgive him, because he is our brother-in-law. If you kill him,
your sister will be a widow and she will weep forever.

Indian wives are always very chaste. They can give their lives for
their husbands. Their husbands may give them up or divorce them, but
these women will never give up their husbands. Rama left Sita, but
Sita never left Rama. This is Indian Vedic culture, and we should try
to follow this because Parama-pujyapada Srila Swami Maharaja wanted
it. Both husband and wife should help each other. You should never
think, I will give up my husband. First follow Varnasrama-dharma,
and then bhakti will come. When you are matured, then you can choose
to either give it up or not give it up; no harm. But now you should
try to follow Varnasrama-dharma. Some of the devotees were not
following, and Srila Swami Maharaja was worried. Males and females
should both be like this  very chaste. You can give up your life, no
harm, because your soul will never die. However, if given to anyone,
be chaste like this. Otherwise you can also give up Lord Krsna. So
practice here. Take a vow that, In my life I will never divorce; I
will never give up my husband (or wife). Then you will be chaste and
you will never give up Krsna. Nowadays it is very easy to give up
Gurudeva and to take a new one  like western women. In a second, for
nothing, they can change their husbands. Although it may be a problem
for their children, they are accustomed to act in that way. We should
try to change this habit.

So Draupadi said, Your
sister will be a widow, and she will weep for her entire life. Bhima
and Arjuna asked Sri Krsna, What should we do? We have promised to
kill Jayadratha, and now Draupadi is telling us that we should
forgive him. Krsna replied, If a man is very much respected but
requires punishment, then he should be dishonored; and this will be
like death. Arjuna then shaved his head, keeping five sikhas, and he
shaved one side of his face while leaving the other side half-shaved.
This system is practiced in France, and nowadays it is a very good
fashion. But Jayadratha was insulted there, and he felt totally
humiliated.

When Bhima and Arjuna released him,
Jayadratha thought, It was better to die than to live. He vowed, I
will somehow take revenge. He therefore did not go to his home.
Instead he went to Kailasa and performed very severe austerities
there. After some months he gave up all food, water, and everything
else, and he was about to die.

At that time Sankara
came and asked him, What do you want? Jayadratha said, I want to
take revenge against the Pandavas. I want to defeat all the Pandavas
and kill them.

Sankara told Jayadratha, You can
defeat the Pandavas once, and only Yudhisthira, Bhima, Nakula and
Sahadeva; but not Arjuna

Jayadratha said, If you
cannot give me a benediction to my full satisfaction, then you should
give me the benediction that neither Arjuna nor anyone else can kill
me.

Sankara replied, If anyone kills you by cutting
off your head, then, if it falls on the ground, that person who made
your head land on the ground will die immediately. Your life will be
saved and your head will be joined back to your body. However, if
your head goes to your father, and your father throws it on the
ground, then you will remain dead. If someone kills you hundreds and
thousands of times, you will not be able to be killed, but if your
father throws your head anywhere, then you will be killed.

Jayadratha was satisfied. He thought, My father will never do
this! Later, when the Mahabharata battle was fought, Arjuna cut off
Jayadrathas head with his arrow. It was evening and the sun was
setting, and his father was doing arpana to the Sun-god (offering
some water). In the meantime, Arjuna shot Jayadrathas head into the
hands of his father. Without thinking, his father tossed it on the
ground, opened his eyes and said, What is this wet thing? But it
had already gone from his hand. He now saw that this was the head of
his son and began to cry, O my son, O my son! You are now dead.
Thus, if Sankara gives any benediction to the enemies of Lord Krsnas
devotees, there is always some loophole. He is so clever, and he is
always serving Krsna.

There was a very big demon named
Tripurasura, who performed severe austerities to please Sankara. When
Sankara came, Tripurasura told him, I want a benediction that I can
make three airplanes. They should be managed only by mind, so that
when I order them to go to heaven, they will go there. They should
not be like present-day machines. They should do as I wish. In summer
they should be air-conditioned. If two men are seated, then there
should be only two seats. And if I want to travel on the airplanes
with hundreds of thousands of persons, then that many seats should be
arranged. They should never fall down due to mechanical difficulty.
Never. They should be made of gold, copper, and silver, and they
should be equipped with all kinds of weapons.

After
attaining his benediction, Tripurasura began to fight with Lord
Sankara himself. Sankara fled and took shelter of Krsna. Tripurasura
also had a khupa, a well, and that well was full of nectar. If anyone
would try to kill him, he could at once take that nectar and then he
would not die. Sankara was very worried. Because so much warfare was
going on between them, he took shelter at the lotus feet of Krsna. In
order to save him, Krsna, as Visnu, then took the form of a cow. That
cow drank all the nectar from the well, after which Sankara was able
to kill Tripurasura and the other demons. We can see here that
Sankara even gives benedictions to his own enemies, knowing that
Krsna will save him.

So dont fear. Sri Krsna will save
you if you offer yourself to Him. He has promised, Sarva dharma
parityaja mam ekam saranam vraja, aham tvam sarva papebhyo
moksayisami ma sucah. If you give your whole responsibility  your
intelligence, your senses, your everything  to Krsna, He will take
all responsibility for you. Dont fear. No sufferings or sorrows of
any kind will come to you. Arjuna killed hundreds of thousands of
soldiers, but he did not have to taste the fruit of that. In other
words, He did not have to suffer from the results of his actions.
Ajamila committed so many sinful activities, but he also did not have
to taste the fruit of that. He went to Vaikuntha. So you should try
to give all your responsibilities, Varnashrama-dharma and everything
to Krsna  and be happy forever. Then only you can enter into bhakti.

Sankara is always serving Krsna. Narada knows this
fact, but he wanted to glorify Sankara so that everyone will know
that he is very near and dear  and non-different from Krsna. How?
Saksad haritvena samasta sastrair uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih
kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya vande guroh sri caranaravindam.
Here saksad haritvena means priyatvena haritvena. He is very near and
dear. Vaisnavanam yata sambhu  he is the greatest Vaisnava.

Sankara-tattva is extremely complex. Brahma-tattva is not so
complicated; he is always jiva-tattva. And sometimes, when there is
no qualified jiva, Lord Visnu himself comes as Brahma. But Sankara is
not like this. He is not jiva-tattva. Where does he live? Beyond
Brahmaloka. After passing through the eight kinds of material
coverings, after crossing the Viraja, Muktidhama, Mahakalapuram, and
then Brahmaloka, there is the planet of Sankara. There he is known as
Sadasiva, and he is Visnu-tattva.

For any reason, if
something sour is put into milk, it becomes yogurt. Yogurt is nothing
but milk. It has all the potencies that are in milk, like ghee and so
forth, but it is not milk. Milk can become yogurt, but yogurt cannot
become milk. Sankara is like that. He is not an ordinary jiva.
Sometimes, but very rarely, there may be a reason that Sadasiva
cannot come to this world  if he is engaged in his destruction of
the universe, or anything like that. In that case a qualified jiva
can work as Siva; temporarily, but not permanently. So you should
always try to honor Lord Sankara.

I can tell some
pastimes of Sankara from Srimad Bhagavatam and Skanda Purana. When
Sri Ramacandra was making the bridge to go to Sri Lanka with his
hundreds of thousands of soldiers, He established a Siva-linga of
Ramesvara. When it was established, all the male human beings were
glorifying Sankara, shouting, Ramesvara ki jayaho! Ramesvara ki
jaya! They were calling Ramesvara Rama Isvara. You are isvara; you
are the God of Rama. Thus they used the name Ramesvara. The Demigods
were not happy or satisfied by this. They said, Ramas ca asau
isvarah. Rama is God, and Sankara is also God. Both of them are the
same. Hearing this, the Sankara-sila (linga or stone) broke. Sankara
came out from it and told them, You are all foolish; you do not know
my tattva, the established truths regarding my identity. Rama is my
God, and that is why I am called Ramesvara.

Common
people generally dont know very much, and so they thought that
Ramesvara meant that Sankara is the God of Rama, and that Rama is
controlled by Sankara. The demigods were of the opinion that Rama and
Sankara are the same and both are God. But Lord Siva, Sankara
himself, told them, I am not the God of Rama. Rama is my beloved and
my God. Sankara is called Ramesvara because of this. He himself told
this.

We see in Srimad Bhagavatam that once Sankara
went to the council of Prajapati Daksa, and everyone there was
honoring Daksa. Daksa Prajapati had given his daughter in marriage to
Sankara, so he thought that Lord Siva was like his son. He offered
pranamas to Brahma because he was his father, but not to Sankara. All
were honoring Daksa except Sankara, who was only sitting and
chanting, "Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama
Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare. Daksa Prajapati felt insulted, cursed
Lord Siva, and so many incidences took place after that. Sankara
returned to Kailasa. From that time on Daksa thought Sankara his
enemy, but Sankara never thought like this.

One day, in
Treta-yuga, Sankara and his wife Sati came to Dandakaranya Forest. At
that time Rama had been living in the forest for 14 years with Sita
and Laksmana, to obey the order of his father, King Dasaratha. Now
Ravana had stolen away Sita and taken her to Lanka. Rama was now
weeping so much, and Laksmana was trying to pacify Him. The more
Laksmana tried to pacify Him, however, the more He wept. He was
asking the trees of Pancavati, O Pancavati! Have you seen Sita?
Where has She gone? O deer, have you seen Sita? And He was crying 
bitterly weeping  asking the Godavari River, O Godavari, have you
seen My dear Sita? Where has She gone? Why has She left me? Rama
became mad in separation.

Sankara came with Sati to the
Dandakaranya Forest to see Ramas divine pastimes and to take darsana
of Him. Sankara was very moved and his heart was melting, He offered
sasthang-pranama (full obeisances, with all the eight limbs of the
body touching the ground) to Rama, and glorified Him, saying, O,
these pastimes are so beautiful and marvelous that anyones heart
will melt to see them. He then did parikrama from very far, far
away, weeping, O these pastimes are so beautiful. When he did his
final pranama and was ready to go back to Kailasa, Sati asked, My
beloved, to whom are you doing pranama? Sankara told Sati, Rama is
my worshipful deity. I always worship Him. She told her husband,
Why? I see that Rama is like an ordinary man, weeping for His wife.
Even I know where Sita is, and He does not know and He is weeping? He
is not strong enough to bring Sita back? He is very weak; so He must
be a man, not God. Why are you doing pranama to Him? Who is He?
Sankara told Sati, You are ignorant; you do not know that He is the
Supreme Personality of Godhead. She had no belief or trust, so
Sankara told her to test Him somehow.

Sankara went
from there and rested under a banyan tree. Sati changed her form to
look like Sita, went to the place where Rama was searching for Sita,
and came in front of Rama. Rama was weeping, Oh Sita, where are you,
where are you? Sati thought, If I appear before Rama as Sita, then
He will look at me and He will at once come and embrace me, saying
Oh, I have received my Sita. And He will be happy. But Rama was
ignoring Sati. Again and again she came in front of Him, yet He was
looking away. Then He told her, Mother, why are you roaming here
alone? Where is Sankara? Sati wondered how Rama knew who she really
was. Now she was afraid and did pranama to Rama. Then she saw that
all the trees, all the creepers, and everything else became Rama and
Sita. Wherever she looked, here and there and everywhere, she only
saw Sita Rama, Sita Rama, Sita Rama. Rama showed Sati that, Sita is
never separated from Me, She is always with Me. I am doing this
pastime for all human beings, so they will remember My lila.

Sati realized, Sankara can never be ignorant. He was right
and I was wrong. After Sati offered pranama and stood up, she saw
that now Rama was there alone with Laksmana, and He was still
weeping. Oh Sita, where are you, where are you?

Sati
then went back to the place where Sankara was waiting under the
banyan tree, and he asked her, Have you tested Him to see who He
is? Sati replied, Prabhu, what can I do? I believed you and I
didnt test Him. She told a lie. You should always have faith in
your Guru. Sankara was the Guru of Sati, but she did not believe him
when he had told her that Rama is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
If a disciple does not obey his Gurudeva, what will happen? His
bhakti and spiritual life will go down. Never tell any falsehoods to
your Gurudeva, otherwise you again go to hell. She lied to Sankara,
saying I have not tested Him." But Sankara saw in his trance that
she had tested Him, and he saw how she had become Sita. He
considered, "She has taken the form of Sita, who is my mother. She is
therefore not my wife; now she is my mother. Now I will always treat
her as my mother. When he made this vow, the demigods at once
showered flowers from heaven, and they praised him, You have made
such a marvelous vow. Sati asked her husband, What vow have you
made? But he was silent and never said anything.

When
they returned to their cottage in Kailasa, Sankara gave Sati a seat
in front of him. The wife can sit on the left side of her husband,
and the mother always sits in front, as a guru. In the same way, a
disciple should not offer pranama to his Gurudeva while keeping his
left side to him. The disciple should always sit at the front of his
Gurudeva, and ask some very good questions with honor. If the
disciple does not do this, he is not a disciple. He should ask some
questions  not always being silent. He should serve and inquire from
the Guru. "Tad vidhi pranipatena pariprasna." Questions should be
there  not with a challenging mood, but to learn. So Sankara gave
Sati a seat in front.

Sati thought, Sankara has left
me. He is treating me like his mother because I took the form of
Sita. In this body he will not accept me as his wife, so Ill have to
give up this body. After some time, Sankara went into a trance for
hundreds and thousands of years, and Sati was feeling grievous
separation. She was ready to give up her body.

One day,
after Sankara had returned to external consciousness, Sati saw that
so many goddesses were going to the palace of her father, Daksa,
because a very good sacrifice was taking place there. Daksas
daughters were also going there, and he had invited everyone except
for Sankara. Sati also wanted to go, but she asked Sankara first. He
replied, A woman can go without an invitation to see her Gurudeva,
or her father and mother; but if a father thinks that her husband is
his enemy, then the wife should not go to see him. You know that your
father thinks I am his enemy, although I never think like this. At
the same time I cannot order you to not go there. You must decide.
Sati left that place and went to her fathers house, and there she
saw that Daksa Prajapati was dishonoring Sankara. At once she became
furious and left her body by burning to ashes, with the help of a
fire that came from her heart. Here we see that Sankaras worshipful
diety is Rama, and because Sati took the form of Sitadevi, he left
her. So he is a chaste Vaisnava, and he is always serving.

Dont have any doubt in your Gurudeva. You should test him
before initiation, and after initiation you should have very firm
belief in him. Dont give him up. If he is a madhyama adhikari, and
not so much qualified, then you can go to a siksa-guru, taking your
Gurudevas permission. He must give permission. If he does not give
permission, then he is not a pure devotee. There is no difference
between siksa-guru and diksa-guru. Both are the same. Sometimes the
siksa-guru may be higher, and sometimes the diksa-guru may be higher.
No harm. If the guru does not know all siddhanta, conclusive
philosophical truths, but he is a Vaisnava with very firm belief in
Krsna, drdha-sraddha, then dont give him up. Serving him and
honoring him, you can go to a siksa-guru, but youll have to honor
him. However, if hes offensive to his Gurudeva, he is not following
the line of bhakti, he has so much wrong attachment and he is fallen,
at once give him up. That guru cannot help you, and he will create so
many problems for you. So give up this guru forever, and accept a new
initiation from any bona-fide Guru who can give this bhakti and take
you to Krsna.

All good qualities are in Sankara.

Sri Sanatana Gosvami has written that some Vaisnavas dont
observe Siva Caturdasi, the appearance day of Lord Siva or Sankara.
In Hari Bhakti Vilasa he has written that Vaisnavas should honor
Sankara, and they may observe that date. I observe that date. I know
Sankara, because in his form of Bankandi Mahadeva in Vrndavana he was
the friend of Sanatana Gosvami. He became Bankandi Mahadeva from
Gopisvara. Do you know this history?

When Sri Sanatana
Gosvami became old, Sankara told him, Now you are old. You should
not come daily to see me, because you are coming from so very far
away. Sanatana Gosvami replied, I should come. I cannot change this
habit. Then Gopisvara Mahadeva said, Then Im going to come very
near to you  as Bankandi Mahadeva. He thus became Bankandi Mahadeva
and resided very near the Madana Mohana Temple. Srila Sanatana
Gosvami is also the very dear friend of Cakralesvara Mahadeva in
Govardhana. He also used to be with Sankara in Kamyavan, where he is
known as Kamesvara. He cannot be without Sankara.

As
Nandisvara, Sankara has become the mountain of Nandagaon. He wanted
that all Krsnas pastimes be performed on his back. Regarding Brahma,
he has become Brahma-parvata in Varsana. Because he is so near to
Radhika, he is therefore our Gurudeva

These are the
tattvas. We should try to honor Sankara as a great Vaisnava and as
Guru. Dont dishonor him. We dont worship him separately, but we can
observe Siva Caturdasi and glorify him in relation to his
relationship with Sri Krsna. We should offer pranama to him with
prayers like:

"O gatekeeper of Vrndavana! O
Soma, all glories to you! O you whose forehead is decorated with the
moon, and who is worshipable by the sages headed by Sanaka,
Sanandana, Sanatana and Narada! O Gopisvara, desiring that you bestow
upon me that prema for the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha-Madhava who
perform joyous pastimes in Vraja-dhama, I offer obeisances unto you
time and again."

Sankara is telling Sri Narada that
Prahlada Maharaja is superior to him. Why? Because he is tricky. He
does this only to give some encouragement to worldly persons.
Actually, Prahlada cannot go to Vrndavana, but Sankara, as Gopisvara,
resides there. As Hanuman, Sankara is always with Rama. As Bhima, he
is with Krsna. When Hanuman and Bhima combine together in Kali-yuga,
they become Madvacarya, our Sampradaya-guru.

Thus,
Lord Sankara serves in so many ways, and we should always honor him
as our Guru. He is hundreds of thousands of times superior to
Prahlada because he knows and meditates on asta-kaliya-lila. Parvati
also meditates on asta-kaliya-lila. This is very secret, yet they
both do it. Although Sankara is so much superior and more worshipful
than Prahlada, still he says that Prahlada is superior. Why? There
are some reasons which I will explain later.

Gaura
Premanande! Hari Hari Bol!

Devotee: In the Gita Krsna
says,  Of all the Rudras, I am Sankara.

Srila
Narayana Maharaja: Here Krsna is telling about His vibhutis. Vibhuti
means opulence. Arjuna is an opulence, and Sankara also. The Pepal
tree is an opulence, and gava, cows, are also, but they are not
Krsna Himself. In this way, so many things and personalities
represent Krsna's opulence -- things that are very near and dear to
Him.

About Purebhakti

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